prideful
Americanadjective
-
thinking too highly of oneself; conceited, arrogant, or overconfident.
I was too bitter and prideful and didn't think I needed the Addiction Recovery meetings, so I didn’t go.
-
full of a legitimate sense of self-worth or satisfaction because of one’s own or another’s accomplishment.
It is a prideful moment for us as we congratulate our friend, one of ten winners of the annual Worldwide Robotics contest.
Other Word Forms
- pridefully adverb
- pridefulness noun
- unprideful adjective
- unpridefully adverb
Etymology
Origin of prideful
Explanation
Someone who's prideful is arrogant and disdainful. Prideful people don't usually have many friends, since they think they're superior to everyone else. Although the adjective prideful is occasionally used simply to mean "proud," or pleased and happy because of some achievement or quality, it usually means something closer to "haughty." If you know someone who's beyond proud, believing they're smarter, more beautiful, or just generally better than most other people, you can describe that person as prideful.
Vocabulary lists containing prideful
"The Ugly One," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-5
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Elijah of Buxton
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A Step from Heaven
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This is not the time to be prideful about how much stress and responsibility you can take on.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 9, 2026
The buildings that housed a prideful labor force are vandalized, colonized by squatters or boarded up.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 15, 2026
"Keeping Up Appearances was so joyous because it mocked the absurdity of prideful status-seeking," she noted of the Patricia Routledge-starring 1990s BBC sitcom.
From BBC • Feb. 6, 2025
Wisconsinites are prideful and you already mentioned the bratwurst, but I want to talk about cheese curds, frozen custard, the beer.
From Salon • Mar. 20, 2024
It was a magnificent operation, from seed to bale, but not one of them could be prideful of their labor.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
